lemon



IIMTEE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HAMLIN T. LEMON, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF ANDCHARLES E. LEMON, OF SAME PLACE.

DIAGRAM FOR THEATERS, 80C.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 228,204, dated June 1,1880.

Application filed May 6, 1879.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that'I, HAMLIN T. LEMON, ofIndianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, haveinvented Improved Means for Regulating and Recording Ticket- Sales, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to means forfacilirating and insuring accuracy inthe work of selling and recording sales of tickets for places of publicamusement, with the object to insure the correct checking of thediagrams to prevent the selling of the same seat to two or more persons,to insure correct marking of the tickets, and to save the expense of aspecial set of tickets for each entertainment.

I make use of a diagram of the seats, properly. numbered, tickets withdetachable blank coupons, and a punch, by which I carry out theinvention, as hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a portion of thediagram-sheet A. Each seat is indicated by a circle, within which areprinted letters and numbers indicating the section, row, and number, oronly the row and number, as may be desired. The back of the sheet iscovered. with mucilage.

In Fig. 2 one of the tickets is shown, which is of usual character,except that the coupon at is blank instead of being printed with aletterand number for a particular seat, as heretofore. I

The seats are to be sold from the diagram, and when the purchaser hasselected a seat the circular piece denoting it, with the number, is tobe cut out from the diagram by a punch of suitable character, and thepiece so cut out pasted upon the blank coupon of a ticket before it isgiven to the purchaser.

At bin the diagram the seats are represented as cut out, and in Fig. 3 aticket is shown with the seat-number attached.

The diagram is thus at any time a record of the tickets sold, with theposition of the seats sold accurately represented, and there can be nopossibility of two persons having tickets for the same seat.

Separate sets of tickets for each entertainment are not required. Theblank tickets are adapted for use at any time, so that none are wasted,and the time and care heretofore required for picking them'out aresaved.

In Fig. 4 a punch is shown, ofaconvenient character for use in cuttingout the numbers. This punch consists of a handle, 0, fitted with acircular cutter, d, which is operated by pressure on the handle.Aplunger, e, is fitted in the handle for removing the disk of paper fromthe cutter.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

The advantages attending the use of the described apparatus are plainlyapparent. In addition to those stated, the diagram is useful, when usedas described, as a check upon the ticket-seller, as its record cannot bealtered to show a less number of seats sold than is the fact, and thewhole apparatus and system save much confusion, expense, and annoyance.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent A diagram for seats in theaters, having its backcovered with mucilage and its face side provided with representations ofthe seats of the theater, each representation of a seat lettered andnumbered to denote the position of the seat, and having the letters andnumbers grouped together within a compass adapted to be cut out of thediagram and pasted onto a blank space on a ticket when sold,

whereby an accurate account of all tickets sold and issued is kept,fraud prevented in selling said tickets, and errors prevented in seatingthe audience, substantially as shown and described.

HAMLIN TEFFT LEMON. Witnesses:

O. A. Henson, JOHN H. JoNEs.

